Your Right to Know

The
Ohio Apportionment Board was in Columbus yesterday for another in a series of statewide public
hearings, and the message from the assembled citizens was clear: They want to see a map.

The Apportionment Board must vote on Oct. 1 on a new map for the 99 House and 33 Senate
districts in the Ohio legislature. U.S. congressional districts are handled separately by the
legislature.

Secretary of State Jon Husted insisted the hearings were a chance for voters to tell the board
what their concerns were before the group sets about drawing a map. But, he said, there was no map
to show.

“I can reassure you that I have not even seen a draft of a map,” Husted said.

Husted was the only Apportionment Board member to attend the hearing in Columbus. The other four
— Gov. John Kasich; House Minority Leader Armond Budish of Beachwood, the lone Democrat; Senate
President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond; and State Auditor Dave Yost — sent representatives to hear
the testimony.

Daniel Tokaji, a constitutional-law professor and election-law expert at Ohio State University,
said that taking public comments before the maps are released in late September is not good
enough.

“It’s essential to have a fair, open and transparent process for drawing district lines,” Tokaji
said. He added that a few days at the end of September “is simply not enough time for those who
care about how our district lines are drawn to review the proposed plans before they are voted
on."

On Thursday, Democratic legislative leaders introduced legislation that would require the
proposed maps be released at least three weeks before they are voted on. The bills also would
require four public hearings after the maps are released.

“It’s just common sense that the time for meaningful input is after proposed maps have been
released to the public rather than before,” Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, said in
a statement. “Otherwise, we end up with hearings that are a public-relations exercise instead of
constructive dialogue. Clearly this process must change so we have a more-responsive and
less-partisan government.”

One important change to the map will be an increase in central Ohio districts. Franklin County
will move from nine House seats to 10, while Delaware and Fairfield counties each will have part of
a second district.

Karen Rainey of the League of Women Voters of Delaware County testified that her group would
prefer that its county remain one district. If this is not possible, she said, a north-south split
would be the best alternative.